Tottenham v Southampton: Gareth Bale’s ‘the reluctant superstar’

Tottenham v Southampton: Gareth Bale’s ‘the reluctant superstar’

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Wanted man: Gareth Bale is being tracked by Europe’s top clubs

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Pal: Jake Thomson (right) says Bale remains grounded

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Gareth Bale's thoughts about his future could be influenced tomorrow when he confronts his past. Should Spurs lose or draw against Southampton, their task of qualifying for next season’s Champions League is likely to become substantially more difficult.

Failure to reach that competition for a third consecutive campaign might convince Bale, the triple-Player of the Year award winner, that his ambitions can be fulfilled only if he leaves White Hart Lane.

Head coach Andre Villas-Boas claims he has assurances that Bale will not be sold this summer, irrespective of where Spurs finish in the table. Yet if Bale refuses to sign the new contract he will be offered and Real Madrid submit a huge bid, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy — seeking funds for a new stadium —would have an unenviable decision to make.

Bale, 23, might one day become one of the world’s most expensive footballers but, to those who know him best, he has changed little since he was a youth-team player at Southampton.

Jake Thomson was a fellow scholar at Southampton when Bale was making progress and says his friend has still to come to terms with his status as one of the game’s best-known players.

“I’ve known Gareth since we were 14, training with the younger players at Southampton,” said Thomson, who is now with Newport County after leaving Saints in 2010. “You might expect him to have changed with success but he is exactly the same as he was then.

“I remember exactly when he made a jump forward. At the end of the 2005-06 season, he played a few games for the first team and was man of the match a couple of times. Then, when he came back after that summer — wow. He was like a machine, a foot taller and a foot wider, he went into the Southampton first team and immediately began to dominate matches.”

Bale retains a mutually respectful relationship with Southampton — he did not celebrate after scoring the first goal in Spurs’ 2-1 win at St Mary’s in October — but they almost allowed one of their most valuable assets to slip through their fingers.

Theo Walcott was always a certainty to be signed by Southampton from the junior ranks but that was not the case with Bale, as Thomson revealed. “Quite a few of the academy coaches wanted to let Gareth go and sign another player in his position instead,” he said.

“Theo was the only one guaranteed to be signed on but nobody else knew until the day the decisions were made and we were all nervous when we were called in to be told the news.

“The man who insisted Gareth should stay was Georges Prost, one of the main youth coaches at Southampton at the time. It’s probably one of the best decisions ever made by an academy coach because it was always clear that Gareth was the better player.

“When you look at where he is now, it might seem strange that he has remained so grounded with all the success he has had but when you see his family, you can understand how it has happened. They’re lovely people who keep his feet on the ground.

“The first time I thought he could be one of the best was when he scored a hat-trick against Inter Milan at San Siro in October 2010. It’s funny to think about one of my really good mates being described as one of the best players in the world.”

The best clubs in Europe are desperate to sign Bale. Spurs are so keen for him to stay they will try to make him the highest-paid player in the club’s history at the end of the campaign.

Yet he remains a reluctant star. “We tried to book a round of golf recently but there were no tee times available,” Thomson said. “I told him to ring them up and tell them he was Gareth Bale but he wouldn’t. I had to do it in the end.”

From Saint and to a winner ...

Apr 2006 Professional debut for Southampton at the age of 16 years and 275 days

Aug 2006 Scores first senior goal for Southampton — a free-kick in 2-2 draw with Derby

May 2007 Joins Tottenham in £6million deal

Sep Scores first goal for Spurs in only his second game for the club in a 3-3 draw against Fulham

Dec Ankle ligament damage rules Bale out for the season — and Tottenham’s League Cup triumph against Chelsea

Oct 2008 Sent off in 2-1 defeat at Stoke, Juande Ramos’ last League game in charge

Sep 2009 After 24 Premier League appearances, Bale is finally on a winning Spurs side

May 2010 Signs new four-year deal after helping Spurs qualify for the Champions League

Oct Hits stunning hat-trick as Spurs lose 4-3 against Inter Milan in the San Siro

Apr 2011 Named PFA Player of the Year

Jun 2012 Signs new four-year deal with Spurs despite missing out on a place in the Champions League